Fudzilla,
translating the Tabtech report for us, notes that the device listed as
"Nvidia Tegra Note Premium" was running Android 4.2.2 "Jelly
Bean" for the benchmark test, supports stylus input, and scored "just
slightly lower than the Nvidia Shield" on GFXBench. The two tech sites did
not offer any thoughts on if or when Nvidia might start selling the 7-incher,
but Fudzilla cited unnamed European sources as saying the more expensive
Logan-based tablet was being prepped for release in the first quarter of 2014.

An
Nvidia spokesperson told PCMag that the company does not comment on rumors or
speculation.

But
one thing giving some credence to the notion that Nvidia would consider
building its own tablet products is that the company has already ventured into
the waters of self-branding a consumer device with the aforementioned Shield$299.99 at Newegg Canada.

Nvidia
recentlybegan shipping its
handheld gaming device, marking a big step for a company that has
traditionally steered clear of directly competing with its OEM partners with
finished products of its own.Of
course, an Android tablet is a different animal than a uniquely put-together
gaming device like the Shield. An Nvidia-built line of tablets would go up
directly against products sold by key Nvidia OEM partners, potentially
resulting in some backlash against the graphics chip maker.

On
the other hand, the lines of competition are shifting across the industry and
turf formerly off-limits to various companies is opening up, particularly in
the wide-open tablet space. Apple aside, the recent moves by software-focused
firms like Microsoft and Google to self-brand their own hardware products
running their own operating systems have sent a clear signal that the old rules
dictating who gets to build what may be obsolete.

Another
thing to consider is that Nvidiaunveiled Project Shieldat the Consumer Electronics Show in
January. Purely speculating, the chip maker may be sizing up next year's CES as
an ideal stage for launching a new Nvidia-branded consumer product, which would
jibe with Fudzilla's pinpointing of early 2014 as the timeframe for the rumored
high-end tablet.